an aussie expat in denver

An editorial message from the gang at Crawfin’ USA

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about changing priorities in life, and how I’m intending to stick around in central Maine and nurture my existence outside of the career frame for awhile.

I launched into that particular post in the context of this blog generating a little less reader traffic than normal, and attributed that to a case of writer’s block.

Having thought about it though, and after a discussion with a friend of mine who’s an excellent writer with a huge literary brain, I think there’s more to it.

As I’ve mentioned ad nauseum in these very pages, I originally set Crawfin’ USA up as a strong resource for Aussies looking to immigrate to the U.S. via the green card lottery, as well as a way for friends and family around the world to keep track of what’s going on over here, and making sure I’m still alive, without having to wrangle timezones to organize a Skype date.

It’s certainly fulfilled both of those briefs, but it became something more for me. Writing twice or three times weekly helped me organize a lot of my thoughts, poke fun at my own vulnerabilities and track my own development throughout this first year as a stranger in a strange land.

It’s been quite eye-opening for me to go back to those early posts and see the evolution of not only my writing style, but where my inspiration comes from, the self-analysis and how I’ve grown since I got here.

I also think that, on some level, my writing has come with such relative ease and frequency this year because it’s been my major subconscious emotional outlet. For the reasons detailed in my bit about priorities, I’ve kept myself at arm’s length from getting too close to anyone or committing to too much, in order to minimize the impact should I end up moving away for another job. Of course, the downside of that disconnect is that all my thoughts have to go somewhere, and this blog has been the vessel for them.

To that end, my distinct lack of twice-weekly inspiration lately can be put down to having grown closer to some folks who’ve become that outlet for my thoughts, and as such I’ve got less to say on a regular basis.

What I’m really getting at is something of a heads-up, or apology, or explanation, that while Crawfin’ USA will live on and continue to tick over, it might not be on a weekly basis for awhile. I’d rather put my efforts into writing when I do have that spark of inspiration and can produce something that’s genuinely worth writing, and worth reading, instead of forcing myself to grind out something that’s a 5/10 effort.

I’ll also be spending more time compiling the book, since it’s gonna need editing once it’s actually finished, and I’ll continue to post my columns, since I can’t quite wriggle out of that writing commitment.

But whether you’re a first-time reader or you get notifications in your inbox every time I click Publish, I’ve always appreciated you stopping by!